Page 44 of Sinful Curses
Despite her lingering unhappiness and the wind howling around her, it was beautiful. Pulling her cloak tighter, she huddled under the hood as she turned to survey the land.
They might have finally scaled to the summit of the mountains as the land before her was flatter than before. If it wasn’t the summit, at least they’d have a break from climbing for a little bit tomorrow.
She welcomed that reprieve and compelled herself to move before she turned into a block of ice. As Zeth rose, Sahira reluctantly left Elsa to help the others scavenge for wood.
It took at least an hour for her to gather a couple of armloads of wood and bring them back to a rocky outcropping that helped protect them from the worst of the wind. She’d chop off a finger for a cave or some shelter, but she hadn’t seen anything like that here, and it was too windy to set up a tent.
The wind howling across the land made it feel like a knife was cutting across her face with each icy burst. She’d lost the feeling in her arms and legs but still had some in her cheeks and the tip of her nose.
She stared at their small pile of wood. They hadn’t found as much here, and the fire was smaller than on previous nights, but at least it offered some warmth as smoke wafted into the air and flames danced around the sticks.
Elsa had risen to start the fire and now had it going as much as possible. If they kept it small, they might keep it burning through the night.
She was so tired of being cold; she craved warmth as birds sang and the sun beat down on her. But there was no evading the relentless, icy air.
Not even with the bigger fires on the other nights had she completely warmed. Some part of her always remained frozen, and she feared she might never get warm again.
When they left this realm, she would never sit on another beach or go anywhere below sixty degrees again. She’d find somewhere tropical, consume a lot of fruity drinks, and sit in a field of grass while downing them all.
It was such a lovely image that she smiled a little before another gust of wind swirled over the top of the rocks. It found crevices in her cloak and blanket and caused the fire to jump around.
Pip had stopped singing, but the notes of Gior’s flute filled the air as the sun sank behind the mountains. What had been a chilly day turned into a frigid night.
Sheltered as much as possible behind the rocks, Sahira hugged her knees to her chest as she huddled in her cloak and blanket. She stared at the small, crackling flames barely warming her cheeks while listening to the haunting strains of the flute.
Elsa was curled into the fetal position on the other side of the fire. She’d passed out without her blanket on; Zeth removed it from her bag and draped it over her.
The other three brownies had hunted for insects and returned with scarce findings they offered to share; they all turned them down. Soon, they might have no choice but to eat the insects as their food supply dwindled.
Orin wasn’t the only one who had lost weight. She could feel that in how her clothes fit and how the ground dug into her bones while she tried to sleep.
They were all exerting too much energy without a steady food supply, but they couldn’t do anything about that. When they left on this journey, they’d assumed they could hunt and eat the monsters in the desert.
They didn’t have much luck with that, but if they were back in those arid lands, they would find and kill something, even if it was one of those tongue things. They hadn’t planned for this mountainous terrain or the lack of life amongst it.
The reprieve from things trying to kill them made her both upset and grateful, but as her stomach rumbled, she wished for a monster to eat. Trying not to think about what would happen when the food ran out, her stomach turned when Gior bit off the head of an insect.
When bile rushed up her throat, she swallowed it and rested her head against the rock behind her. Maybe if they cooked the insects first, they’d be more appealing.
Sahira doubted it, but she also doubted she’d turn them down when she was starving. She’d do whatever it took to survive this land, no matter how much it disgusted her.
Feeling eyes on her, she lifted her head and met Orin’s gaze across the fire. Unable to suppress her visceral reaction to him, a thrill ran through her as her heart rate increased and her skin came alive… and this time not from goose bumps.
How this man could affect her so much with only one look was something she’d never understand or get used to. Despite her unending exhaustion, her frozen body came alive beneath his gaze.
He sat ten feet away from her and across the flames, but he didn’t feel as distant now as he had when he stood beside her earlier. Barely able to breathe and unable to break his stare, she held it until a large boom quaked the earth.
Rocks broke free of the mountains surrounding them. They bounced and rattled as they tumbled from the walls.
In the distance, a plume of smoke rose into the night sky. It turned the middle of the full moon a shade of gray.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-NINE
Orin leaptto his feet as he broke eye contact with Sahira. He turned as the plume of smoke rose higher before dispersing into the ever-present wind.
Now what?
He didn’t know the answer to that as the smoke had been at least a mile away, and he couldn’t see what caused the explosion. They should rest, but this was the first new development in days.
